Tag Archives: Kelly Bush

Could ‘Lesbian Themed’ Movies Rule Next Years Oscars?

Indiewire have updated their 2016 Oscar predictions, and they predict a very real possibility that over half of this year’s female acting nominations could go to portrayals of gay women.

Lesbians have represented at the Oscars before. Charlize Theron won for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos, Nicole Kidman played Virginia Woolf, and Annette Bening almost won for her rule in the The Kids Are All Right. 

Also read: When It Pays To Be A Lesbian At The Oscars

So who has been tipped?

There is a possibility that openly gay actress Lily Tomlin could get a nomination for playing someone openly gay in Grandma. Which is actually a first – a lesbian actress being nominated for playing a lesbian character – shock horror!

Tomlin would also become the only second gay person to be nominated for playing a gay person. Ian McKellen is currently the only other example.

In Paul Weitz’s Grandma, Tomlin plays a lesbian poet who goes on a road trip with her granddaughter after she breaks up with her long-term partner.

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This is her first lead role in a film in over 27 years, and she’s incredible in it. Sony Pictures Classics is surely going to rev up a campaign for her come fall, in hopes of giving 75 year old Tomlin her first Oscar nomination since 1975, when she was nominated for Nashville. Our fingers are firmly crossed.

Also read: Watch | New Clip Released from Lily Tomlin’s New movie ‘Grandma’

If Tomlin does get nominated, she would almost certainly be competing against Cate Blanchett, who got insanely good reviews out of Cannes for Todd Haynes’ Carol. Blanchett plays half of a 1950s lesbian romance in the film, the other half being played by Rooney Mara, who beat out Blanchett for Cannes’ Best Actress award.

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Mara is a very likely nominee too, though The Weinstein Company could very well campaign her in supporting.

Also read: Watch | First Teaser of Cate Blanchett’s new Lesbian / Bi-Feature Film ‘Carol’

Either way, this is three possible lesbian nominees.

And then there’s Freeheld, which we’ll likely be released at the Toronto Film Festival.

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The movie stars last year’s best actress winner Julianne Moore, who is paired with Ellen Page. The film is a classic Oscar bait story of real life lesbian Laurel Hester (Moore), a police officer in Ocean County, New Jersey. Following her diagnosis with terminal lung cancer in 2005, Hester repeatedly appealed to the county’s board of chosen freeholders in an attempt to ensure her pension benefits could be passed on to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Page).

Also read: Will Ellen Page’s “Freeheld” Be A Surprise Box Office Hit?

The film is actually based on a documentary short that won an Oscar, and is written by the same man who got a nomination for his screenplay for Philadelphia.

We obviously won’t know until we see it, but both Moore and Page sure seem like contenders for best actress and best support. That would also make Moore the only person to receive two nominations for playing queer characters.

Will Ellen Page’s “Freeheld” Be A Surprise Box Office Hit?

Later this year, we will get to watch Ellen Page’s much-anticipated movie Freeheld. And sources are tipping the film to become a box office hit, with some entertainment observers and fans noticing the growing anticipation for this movie since Lionsgate won the bidding war for its rights at the Berlin Film Festival.

Page is one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood, a critically acclaimed artist whose acting range is beyond reproach. However, this is a film which could do something different for her reputation and that is it could turn her into a major ‘box office draw’. Especially as in this project she has been coupled with an A-list, Oscar winning, movie star Julianne Moore – who can bring large numbers of fans to any movie.

Also read: Ellen Page and Julianne Moore’s New Drama ‘Freeheld’ Is Backed Big For Nationwide Distribution

Freeheld is a film that has the potential to draw ‘huge’ numbers at the box office because of its ‘human story’ of a couple fighting to have one of the partner’s pension benefits transferred to the other, a story which many entertainment fans can relate to. Moreover, many heterosexual movie fans will be drawn to any project which she is part of because of both women’s sensational acting range.

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This is also a great movie for lesbian visibility. As we all agree its not often lesbian stories are told or documented on the big screens of Hollywood. However, Freeheld could be seen as a film of the equal to Philadelphia or Brokeback Mountain in queer visibility.

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Page would never really admit that becoming known, as a major box office draw is important to her. However, one thing that she has revealed in her interviews is she is “ultra-competitive” – something she has known since her days as a competitive soccer player in Canada, and that trait has not all of a sudden disappeared as an actress.

More on Ellen Page and Julianne Moore’s New Lesbian Drama ‘Freeheld’

The highly anticipated film Freeheld is due out some time this year. Written by Ron Nyswaner, who also wrote 1993’s Philadelphia, the part love story and civil rights drama film tells the true story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), a New Jersey police detective who was dealt a devastating blow when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

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Hester is in a relationship with her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), and the film follows the couple as they both fight against the illness and government officials, who were preventing Hester’s pension benefits from going to Andree.

While a release date has yet to be confirmed, the film was shot last summer and is now in post-production.

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Ellen Page came out as a lesbian in 2014. Julianne Moore starred as a lesbian in The Kids Are Alright and is a staunch gay rights campaigner.

Steve Carell, Michael Shannon, and Luke Grimes also star in the drama, which is based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning documentary short of the same name.

Ellen Page and Julianne Moore’s New Drama ‘Freeheld’ Is Backed Big For Nationwide Distribution

Although the new Ellen Page movie is still in post production, companies have been via for the rights to distribute the film across the North American, which is fantastic news as this movie is about a lesbian couple.

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In fact, a bidding war erupted after execs saw only a 12-minutes of the film, and it was finally Lionsgate who won the bidding war to the rights to Freeheld, which tells the true story of the late Laurel Hester. Julianne Moore stars as Hester while Ellen Page, who is also one of the producers, plays Hester’s life partner, Stacie Andree.

The film part love story and civil rights drama, and follows Hester’s relationship with her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, as they both fight against the illness and government officials, who were preventing Hester’s pension benefits from going to Andree.

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Steve Carell, Michael Shannon, and Luke Grimes also star in the drama, which is based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning documentary short of the same name.

Julianne Moore is a likely best actress Oscar winner this year for her work in Still Alice, so her role in this movie was already generating interest

Julianne Moore and Ellen Page Banned From Filming Gay Rights Film in Catholic School

‘Freeheld’ is based on Cynthia Wade’s Oscar-winning documentary, which tells the true story of lesbian couple Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree, and Hester’s battle to assign her pension benefits to Andree in 2005.

The new film stars Julianne Moore and Ellen Page (who is also a producer on the film), with Moore playing the New Jersey detective dying of lung cancer, and Page playing her New Jersey mechanic girlfriend.

In one scene, the couple applies for a civil union, and the production team needed a building that could pass for a town hall.

Salesian high school in New Rochelle was to provide as a location. However, after review the Catholic high school informed filmmakers that it had changed its mind initially after approving a shoot and allowing still photographs to be taken because of the ‘subject matter’.

Producer, Kelly Bush, said:

“Freeheld captures the inequality and bigotry that one couple faced while coping with cancer and the end of life. That our film was denied access to a location because of the subject matter — a same-sex couple fighting for their legal rights — illustrates just how important it is that this story be told.”

Ellen Page tweeted: